Gwyneth Dunwoody has died

mwell Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 08:45:09 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

I have just heard the news that Gwyneth Dunwoody has died and felt compelled to post a tribute to her here.

She was born into the Party as daughter of the longtime General Secretary, Morgan Phillips, and was elected as the member for Exeter in 1966. After losing her seat in 1970, she moved and became MP for Crewe in 1974, where she has remained ever since. She is the longest serving female MP ever.

 




I greatly admired Gwyneth Dunwoody as a fierce and independent MP who believed strongly in holding the executive to account and was nobody's patsy - the ideal model for a backbench member. In my small dealings with her she always displayed intelligence and integrity.

She served as an MEP between 1975 and 1979, which gave her a properly sceptical perspective towards that institution: in an alternative universe, she would have been deputy leader of the party under Peter Shore in the 1980s.

She was famously one of the beneficiaries of the backbench rebellion of 2001 that insisted that she and Don Anderson remain chairs of select committees rather than more pliable leadership choices. She had remained a tough and driven chair of the Transport Committee ever since.

I will miss her contribution to Parliament: the PLP is weaker today than yesterday.

And worryingly looking forward, the Crewe & Nantwich by-election will no doubt be very uncomfortable...

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Gwyneth Dunwoody has died | 29 comments (29 topical)

Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#1)

by otware on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 02:04:40 AM GMT

Very sad. She was an excellent MP and will be sorely missed. I remember hearing her speak when my A-level class visited parliament in 2006. She was quite a character.

An about the by-election: If Labour can't hold a 16.3% majority then they really are in trouble! 


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#2)

by LabourOutlook on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 07:51:57 AM GMT

Very sad. She was a good socialist and parliamentarian.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#3)

by treborc on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 08:04:00 AM GMT

Funny once upon a time she was seen as being slightly to the right in Labour politics, then New labour came to power she was seen as being far left.

She was a good solid Labour MP, we need MP's like her right now, she will be greatly missed.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#4)

by jamesmalexander on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 09:14:24 AM GMT

A very sad loss. She was Labour at heart and independent in mind. A fantastic politician.

Councillor James Alexander
Prospective Labour MP for York Outer
www.time-4-change.org.uk


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#5)

by TomCopley on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 09:29:37 AM GMT

Devastating, and a huge blow to Parliamentary oversight.  She was a brilliant backbench MP and a model select committee chair.

======================== TomCopley.com

Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#6)

by lastword on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 11:51:51 AM GMT

That's a shock.  RIP, Gwyneth.  She had a good innings and fabulous parliamentary career.  We'll raise a toast to her tonight for all she did for this country.  No one need be sad.  It's better we had her in parliament on our side for as long as we did.  I'm grateful for that and hope it will be some comfort to her family.


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#7)

by topcat on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 01:12:32 PM GMT

An outstanding figure. She will be sadly missed.

Though we may not like it, already today an untimely buzz is underway elsewhere as to the Labour selection.

Suffice it to say, and to keep out of unseemly personality discussion, I am assuming that it will be an All Women Shortlist. Do the rules require it?


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#8)

by ChrisPaul on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 02:29:51 PM GMT

Rules don't require an AWS AFAIK.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#9)

by David Boothroyd on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 04:43:54 PM GMT

A minor correction - Gwyneth Dunwoody is not the longest serving female MP ever, because Dame Irene Ward served a few months longer.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#10)

by mwell on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 05:02:20 PM GMT

You could be right, as I got my info from Wikipedia, which stated that Gwyneth over took her last September, but it also says it on the front page of Dods...


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#14)

by bigpapi on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 10:04:06 PM GMT

I think Gwyneth was the longest continually serving woman Labour MP; she overtook Barbara Castle's record late last year, having been elected for Crewe in 1974.

She was a great lady who will be sadly missed.  I agree that the PLP is poorer for her passing.


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#11)

by jkitleft on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 06:25:16 PM GMT

She would have made an excellent Transport secretary, she was one of my favorite female Labour MP's. We have lost so many in the last few years, who were commited to social justice, and were Labour until they dies. Cook, Mowlam, and now Dunwoody.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#12)

by jkitleft on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 06:43:46 PM GMT

May I also condemn any attempt to undermine this great woman, with accusations of her support for Zionism. I personally don't agree with any form of nationalism, but the process of peace is blocked by religious fanatics, not by people encouraging a two-state solution, like Gwyneth. Israel is not the evil people may say it is, although I criticise that state frequently. What she did was encourage a bilateral relationship, and how would doing the opposite help the peace process in any way. She said what she meant, and meant what she said, and her views, whether you agree with them or not, were pragmatic.


There is another fallacy by nasty little cretins being circulated, that she, as a Transport select commitee chair, is somehow responsible for Transport debacles. BA executives are lucky she did not (unfortunately) get the time, to give them the tongue-lashing of a life time, over T5. She criticised the government effectively over their lack of action on Transport: she was a tireless campaigner for parliamentary democracy.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#13)

by madasafish on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 08:52:16 PM GMT

She was a great person and an effective and bravely independent MP.

She will be sorley missed.

Speak no ill of the dead.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#15)

by grimupnorth on Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 10:23:28 PM GMT

I met her a couple of years ago. She was decent, and had no time for Tony Blair or New Labour.Part of the old  "broad church."


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#16)

by Mike Ion on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 09:02:22 AM GMT

Gwyneth was the first MP I ever met. I was born and grew in Sandbach in Cheshire and up to the age of 21 she was my MP (Sandbach came out of the Crewe constituency and became part of Congleton in the 1980s). She was a really good constituency MP who worked hard, looked after her area and above all remembered who it was who had sent her to Westminster.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#17)

by Mike40 on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 03:49:59 PM GMT

she was actively pro bloodsports and for quite a while represented the fur industry in Parliament, defending leg hold traps for gods sake.

Excuse me if I dont fawn over this woman. 

 


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#18)

by jljb2 on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 05:02:35 PM GMT

For God's sake get your priorities in order. Millions of people in this country suffer real hardship, and you're worried about a few animals? That, for me, indicates a fundamental lack of human compassion, and a lack of concern for your fellow human beings. When someone thinks animals are more important than human beings, there's something seriously wrong. I can't understand how people can prefer to spend their time on animal rights issues than on real human problems - it's tragic, frankly. Shame on you - Gwyneth Dunwoody wanted to improve people's lives, she cared about people. You can't even respect a dead woman, and you care more about putting across a silly vendetta than for the hurt you might cause.


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#19)

by Tiberius on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 08:54:57 PM GMT

Actually, I've always believed that the left should be there to look after those in society who can't look after themselves, and that includes animals.

I was an activist in Crewe from 1982 - 1987. I disagreed with Gwyneth's role representing the fir trade and her views on fox hunting as did many in the party. But for me the disagreement was more than outweighed by the fact that she was an excellent constituency MP. For most of her time as MP she didn't live in the constituency, yet she was in the constituency every weekend.

In the 80s I heard of the plight of the sister of a lad my father knew. She had had some temporary work and her benefits were stopped. When the job ended, she was without money, and claimed her benefits once more. But Social Security said it was down to the Department of Employment and the Dept of Employment said it was down to the DSS. She had been 6 months without any money. Due to boundary changes she was now in a Tory constituency rather than Gwyneth's. I spoke to Gwyneth at the CLP, explaining that obviously she wouldn't be able to do anything, but could she give me some pointers as to what the girl should do. She told me to bring her to her surgery on the Saturday. We went in, Gwyneth took her details and by the middle of the next week she had got 6 months benefits paid.

I have issues with Labour over Iraq, ID card, tuition fees and 90 day detention. But I would have crawled  through broken glass to vote for Gwyneth Dunwoody had I still been in Crewe.

She had an large personal vote. In the 1983 General election, Crewe & Nantwich had a notional CONSERVATIVE majority if 3000. Peter Kent, the leader of the Labour Group in Crewe was standing in South Derbyshire against the then unheard of Edwina Curry. This had a notional LABOUR majority of 800. On that dreadful election night the result for South Derbyshire came through, Peter Kent had lost by 8,613 votes. So I braced myself for how big the Tory majority was going to be in Crewe & Nantwich. But Gwyneth won by 290 votes. The only swing to Labour in the north west outside of Liverpool. That is the mark of  a first class MP.

I feel like I've lost a close friend.


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#20)

by Tiberius on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 09:01:44 PM GMT

If I may just add 1 interesting fact.

Crewe has only been represented by 3 MPs since 1931.

Sir Donald Somervell 1931 - 1945
Sydney Scholefield Allen 1945 - 1974
Gwyneth Dunwoody 1974 - 2008


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#21)

by Mike40 on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 09:13:18 PM GMT

"When someone thinks animals are more important than human beings"

Did not say that. Just that I think all this fawning over a woman woman who actively sought to perpetuate barbaric cruelty in the name of fashion and 'sport' is somewhat distasteful. She was a nasty piece of work.


Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#22)

by Tiberius on Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 09:52:27 PM GMT

In my reply to your post and the subsequent reply, I was trying to sympathise with your point of view whilst showing that nothing is black and white. No one is all good or all bad.

However, I find your comment that she was a "nasty piece of work" highly offensive.

Do you really think that support of fox hunting and an involvement in the fir trade (both of which she had a negligible effect on) negate all the positive things that she has done?


My Labour MP in another constituency in which I lived appalled me when he excitedly told me he had found he could watch the bull-fights on satellite. So I understand your view. But unlike Gwyneth, I wasn't aware of any good that this individual had done.



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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#23)

by bigpapi on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 02:05:04 PM GMT

Mike40 - it wasn't Gwyneth who was a "nasty piece of work"; with comments like that maybe you should look in a mirror to find one.

And for the record, she represented the British Fur Council at a time when she was facing personal bankruptcy, and admitted that she didn't believe for a minute what she was advocating, but needed the money - maybe not an ideal reason, but better that Gwyneth staved off bankruptcy and stayed in the House where she was a champion of the real underdog (not dumb animals) than be expelled Jeffrey Archer-like through being declared bankrupt.

Her opposition to banning hunting was also pragmatic - the Nantwich part of her constituency encompasses part of the South Cheshire Hunt; she was, as any good constituency MP should do, representing a large proportion of her constituents, despite the unpopularity of the position.  That's actually what MP's are supposed to do.


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#24)

by Mike40 on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 05:45:45 PM GMT

"she didn't believe for a minute what she was advocating, but needed the money"

 Give me a break.

Have heard it all now.... oh dear im a bit broke, what shall id , I know Ill help out people who set leg hold traps to kill animals for their fur, those animals may eat their own limbs to try to escape but hey im broke so what do I care!

 

Plus unlike many a Labour MP surrounded by hunts who still votes against barbarism (because as has been shown time and time again the majority of rural people are against killing for 'sport') I will become a member of the so called Parliamentary Middle Way Group, a front for the thugs of the so called Countryside Alliance.

 As for your comment about 'dumb animals' well that just reveals what your level of compassion really is and why the Labour party has lost so many people from the animal welfare community.


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#25)

by jljb2 on Mon Apr 21, 2008 at 06:13:38 PM GMT

Yes because that's a huge group...if they abandon labour over that, they're nothing more than self-indulgent fools. I come from the countryside, and I have no real objection to hunting per se - it's just the people who do it I can't stand, so that's the only reason I support the ban. Also because the CA make out like this is a big issue in rural areas - when service deprivation, rural poverty, lack of transport and housing are the real issues. But there's no need to drag Gwyneth Dunwoody through the muck just because you disagree with her on one issue; judge people by how they treat others is my motto - and I think by that measure she scores pretty highly!


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#26)

by Tiberius on Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 08:34:30 AM GMT

So once again you have ignored my point about whether this negates all her other good works.


You seem to be obsessed with this. I have noticed that you have posted pretty much the same thing on 4 or 5 blogs and possibly on the Guardian website under the name Chris (this person used exactly the same phrase as you, but fortunately his comment got pulled.)


You would probably be happier with a politician who is a vegetarian and loves animals, and sod what else they have done. Hitler perhaps?

Also, on hunting it is a personal vote. I don't agree with it, but there are many who believe that it is the best way to control the fox population and more humane than shooting.

There you are, I hope you are satisfied.  You have got me defending hunting. Something I am totally opposed to.

Now why don't you go and hassle the living instead of defiling the memory of the recently deceased?


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#27)

by bigpapi on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 10:21:06 PM GMT

For the record, she was not "a bit broke"; at the 1970 General Election her mother was a Whip in the House of Lords who lost her paid Ministerial post, her late husband, Dr John Dunwoody, was a Minister for Health who lost both his Falmouth and Camborne seat and his Ministerial salary, and she was a Minister at the Board of Trade who lost her Exeter seat and Ministerial society.

You may be too obsessed with your animals to realise that over the next six years she had her house repossessed by the Nationwide Building Society, and a bankruptcy petition was filed against her in respect of her London flat.

This ends my participation with you; you are obviously a very sick person, who is prepared to overlook a lifetime of great work to the Labour Party, the people of Exeter and Crewe and Nantwich, just because she wasn't jumping up and screaming "defend animal welfare" - there are hundreds of thousands of more important issues that Gwyneth fought on until her death, and that is why she was a great human being - something you will never be. 


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#28)

by Mike40 on Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 07:49:51 PM GMT

"next six years she had her house repossessed by the Nationwide Building Society, and a bankruptcy petition was filed against her in respect of her London flat."

 
Such tings happen to many people but thankfully they dont all get bailed out by doing the bidding of the fur industry. Amazing how some people think you have to think more of a person because they pegged it at 77 and ignore the horrific things they actively supported. 


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Re: Gwyneth Dunwoody has died (#29)

by Tiberius on Sat Apr 26, 2008 at 01:35:10 PM GMT

Amazing how some people think you have to think more of a person because they pegged it at 77

You are obviously haven't bothered to read any of the comments. Such is your bigotry.

They think a lot of Gwyneth because of all the fine things she did. You however are obsessed with a very minor thing. So much so that you have posted the same garbage on many blogs.

This was meant to be a thread to pay tribute to her. You have sullied it. Even Conservative Home didn't have any bad comments (you obviously forgot that one.)

Why not concentrate your efforts on attacking living people who are involved in the industry? You might then get some respect.

As a previous poster said "Nasty piece of work", look in the mirror.


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Gwyneth Dunwoody has died | 29 comments (29 topical)